Happy Holidays:  Veteran's Day Edition
by nekkidboothinc
Summary: Booth and Brennan again find that holidays are more meaningful when they are together.  Second in the Happy Holidays series.


**A/N: We're back by popular demand! What?! That's not conceited, read the reviews y'all left:) Seriously though, we love you guys, so here's another little snippet in the Happy Holidays series.**

**For new folks, this is the continuation of a series, so things will make more sense if you read the Halloween edition first. But only adults, since that one is M rated! We mean it! (-stern parental-looking face to all kids-)**

**Enjoy! Kisses! Nekkid Booth Inc.**

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Temperance Brennan was the first to admit that in most situations, she didn't know the "right" thing to say. Like most people, she could tell when something was wrong, or there was tension – she wasn't _that_ dense. She just didn't usually know what to say. Unless she was with Booth. Then, somehow, the right words usually just fell out of her mouth and she had no idea where they (or the power to speak them) had come from.

Right now, she and her partner were in his FBI-issued Chevy Tahoe, cruising silently down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC. Where they were headed she had no idea. Booth had shown up at her apartment, asking her to come with him. Simply from the look in his eye, she'd known not to argue, just to go. He needed her.

When she'd looked over her calendar for the day, she'd noticed it was Veteran's Day. Her mind slipped to Booth (as it had a tendency to do more often than she liked to admit – _especially_ since their Halloween encounter) and she wondered what he'd feel like today. Wondered how this day affected him. Her heart had tightened at the thought of him being a veteran. The things he'd seen, the things she knew he'd had to do… she'd seen a lot in her anthropology career – entire societies wiped out by genocide, enough death and destruction to last her a lifetime. But she knew it was different for him. He hadn't just witnessed it. He had been a _part _of it. And it broke her heart.

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It seemed that no matter how well his life was currently going, Seeley Booth was plagued by memories most all the time. He had a good memory, and it was both a blessing and a curse. On days like today, it tended towards the latter.

Today was his day. Those who remembered that patted him on the back, gave him words of thanks and admiration. Some even called him heroic. Maybe they were right. But he never forgot that in the process of becoming a hero, he also became a killer. And the thought that most of those who he killed were the bad guys made him feel just a little better. But then there were those who weren't bad guys…a familiar, throbbing ache accompanied the thought.

He didn't want to remember. But he had to. Even the bad memories deserved to be honored. No matter how badly it hurt to do so.

And what did he do when things were painful and confusing? When the world seemed like a dark tunnel and there was no light at the end? He went to Bones. He didn't know why. But it was the only thing that ever seemed to work.

He went to her place, and when she answered the door and looked at him with a questioning look, he found he wasn't exactly sure what he wanted to say to her. Only three words left his lips. "Come with me." Begging with his eyes for her not to question him, just for once. After studying him for just a moment, she answered his unspoken plea by simply nodding and grabbing her jacket, following him out the door. And, silently, he thanked God for her.

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Things had been just a little off between them, neither of them able to completely forget the heated tryst that took place in a darkened room under the pretense of anonymity; the one that they had agreed not to mention again, for the sake of their partnership. That night hung between them like thick fog. But right now, her eyes on him were clear as they sat in the cemetery. She was _seeing _him. Knowing him.

"We worked in teams," he told her. "They make it seem like snipers work in isolation, but there're almost always two of us. There's a lot more to do than just pointing a gun. One person does the shooting. The other person does the spotting. Calculates wind resistance, accounts for the presence of certain atmospheric conditions or visual distortions like mirages. Anything that can affect the shot. And each person takes turns, to reduce fatigue. But that doesn't help so much when you've been awake for 48 hours straight in the desert. You just do your best to help each other, in any way you can."

She nodded, absorbing everything he was telling her about this world that was so completely foreign to her.

"I was just so tired, Bones. My partner told me he'd take the shot. The target was a real bastard, someone who arranged for the murder of a lot of people. It was a clear day, just a little windy. All I had to do was recalculate the angle of the shot based on the wind resistance."

"You miscalculated," she said. There was no judgment in her voice, only acknowledgement of the fact of where his story was headed.

He could barely bring himself to nod his head. "Hit a bystander. Young guy, just a teenager."

Her eyes hadn't left his the whole time. "I'm sorry, Booth."

His jaw clenched, he shook his head shortly, now refusing to look at her. "Don't be sorry for me. I screwed up. But it was my partner that watched through the scope as the bullet ripped through that kid. He took the shot. And I don't think he ever forgot that. Which is probably why he committed suicide 4 months later." Booth gazed at the headstone that was in front of them, one of the thousands with the little American flags posted neatly in the foreground.

Recognition overcame her, and then a million logical thoughts came to her mind. Booth didn't know for sure. He didn't know if it was his miscalculation which caused the mistake, or whether his partner, as weary as he had been, had just taken a bad shot. He didn't know if it was this particular event that brought about his friend's suicide, or whether it was a culmination of everything he had seen in his military life, or even complications in his _non-_military life. He didn't know any of this, but yet he was so eager to take this burden on himself. And that made her feel sad and frustrated and just a little angry.

With her hand on his chin, she dragged his eyes from the headstone, and towards her, and said the only thing that came to her mind. "You're a _good person, _Booth." And her voice was so firm and sure that it startled him a little.

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He was surprised at her declaration that he was a good person. He knew it in his heart. But he could see the hurt in _her _heart, realizing that he didn't always believe it. And she could see him fighting with himself now, as he stood looking at his friend's headstone. He had no doubt that she was recognizing his struggle, and as much as he hated pulling her into his pain, he had never been so grateful to have her here with him right now.

"I know there might have been other factors that contributed to Mikey's suicide. I _know_ that. But… what if that kid hadn't died? What if that was the last straw, you know? And that's on _me,_ Bones. Both of those deaths."

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Brennan thought for a long time, a little more afraid than usual to say the wrong thing, or to say too much. Her relationship with Booth was _different_ now. They'd agreed that the Halloween memory would remain just that – a memory. But she could tell, there was something… something had changed. Maybe it was her, maybe it was him, and maybe it was both of them. But now she was a little more cautious. If she was honest with herself, she was a little afraid to say something that would burst the dam and let all her true feelings for Seeley Booth wash out their relationship with the force of a thousand floods. She'd known him well before, had even considered him one of her best friends, but the intimacy they'd shared and the feelings she'd experienced in his arms and at his hands (not to mention his lips, and his other body parts…) well, suffice to say she knew him on a level she'd never expected. And the feelings on this level scared her. Very much. Still at a loss, she went for what had always worked in the past: honesty.

"Booth," she began. "You know I don't always… know what to… say. Or do… but I…" she stopped and looked at him. "I want you to know…"

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Seeley smiled at her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, drawing her to him. His partner, who in the past few years he had fought with, laughed with, had deep conversations with, agonized over hard cases with. And, on one mysterious, surreal night a few weeks ago, kissed, and slept with. But right now, he had a better idea of which of those interactions meant the most. Why had he allowed that Halloween tryst to happen, feigning ignorance, under the cover of darkness? Maybe because, when he looked into eyes here in the light of day, they were able to read each other's mysteries just a little too well. There was something just a little scary about that. But right now, he needed it from her. Needed to see himself as _she _saw him. For a moment, when he gazed into her eyes, he saw, reflected in them, a hero.

Her head now dropped to rest against his broad chest for just a moment. "I wish I could take away the pain for you." The warmth of her felt familiar, and comforting, and somehow still promising of secrets to uncover, a soul to understand.

Pressing his lips to the top of her head in a gesture that could barely be considered a kiss he whispered, "I know." He felt that in this moment, another piece of the mystery of what they were to each other disappeared. A holiday honoring his heroism couldn't comfort him. But his partner, honoring who he _was…_that somehow worked a miracle.

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**A/N: And things move forward. Sorry if you are disappointed by the lack of smut, but this one adds to the relationship development. And, of course, we promise lots of dirty things to come, so keep with us. Next stop: Thanksgiving!**


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